A8-5500 vs FX 8350

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Domenic Lang

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how much better is an amd fx 8350 8 core processor compared to a a8-5500 's processor? how much of a difference does it make in gaming?

i have a 7950 and an a8-5500k. I have 300$. I dont know if i should buy a 1920x1200 monitor, or buy a new cpu first (FX8350) which would be better to buy first?
 
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getochkn
you;d need a new motherboard too if you want to switch. the FX series will blow away the A8 series. the A8 are good basic chips that work good without needing a video card or anything. for gaming, not so much.
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Domenic Lang

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why would i need a new motherboard too?
 
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Domenic Lang

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so you have to get a new motherboard for like every type of cpu? thats pretty retaqrded. why they make so many different types of motherboard/cpu sockets. so my motherboard can only work with fm2 socket cpus?
 
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getochkn

getochkn

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if you have an fm2 socket, then yes, it will only work with that. you might have an fm1 if it's an older version of the the A series, but I think the a8-5500 was second generation.

And it's that way with most cpu's and motherboards. With that said, the AM3+ socket has been out for a while and new chips still coming out.

It comes down to what they add to a new chip. If it needs more power, uses different memory, add's support for new things like usb3 or pci express 3, they change the board, socket, etc, to accomply that.
 
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Domenic Lang

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am i better of buying an am3+ motherboard, or waiting for the next generation of fm2 cpus? which is future proof? and what kind of mother boards do intel cpus use?
 
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getochkn

getochkn

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intel just switched from 1155 to 1150, 5 less pins and you have to buy a whole new board to go from the 3xxx series to the 4xxx series of chips, which perform pretty much the same. lol. They're actually worse than amd.

At least amd has added backwards compatibility, so if you have am3+ socket, they will usually take chips that are am3+, am3, am2, am1, all in the same socket.
 
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Domenic Lang

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so is am3+ the most future proof motherboard? or should i stick with the fm2? it seems am3+ is more suture proof but im reading that amd will be dropping the am3+ socket and focusing on apu's which sounds like more fm2 sockets. or fm3 or something.
 
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getochkn

getochkn

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there is no such thing as future proofing with cpus, motherboards, gpus, anything. amd may make more am3+ chips, they may not. within a year, i expect ddr4 to take off and be used more, then all the fancy ddr3 2833 super speed fancy ram people buy will be pointless.
 
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k1114

k1114

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Other than a gpu upgrade, maybe ram, you should really buy the rest of the pc components to never upgrade. It's a waste of money. You end up buying a whole new pc about every 5 years from all the new tech. It's the price you pay to continue to max pc games.

Fm2 (which is for apus) is amd's low end socket. Am3+ is their higher end socket. Amd does a bit better with keeping the same socket for longer and having backward compatibility. Intel will change every 2 years and won't keep compatibility. Currently with 1150 for mainstream and 2011 for higher end. Not mentioning any server/mobile/embedded sockets of either company.
 
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k1114

k1114

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Technically the a10 6800k is the "best" fm2 cpu as it's the same thing but clocked higher (plus igpu which doesn't matter). But either still perform worse than a fx4300 in games. Am3+ chipsets don't officially support pcie 3 and you'd most likely get a mobo with 2 but this doesn't matter. Fm2+ will finally add 3.

Amd has been posting updated roadmaps just recently for the past couple of weeks but still no word on the higher end. Amd typically only has 1 socket unlike intel. (There is no am1, it started with am2, am2+, am3, am3+.) I'm not going to speculate but there should be some news soon so you should wait.
 
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palladin9479

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The fx8350 is significant more powerful then any of the APU's. The real question is what is your long term plans? Pairing a 7950 with an APU seems kind of backwards, the value of APU's comes from not needing an iGPU and fitting in low budget / power solutions. You really should have a different platform with that dGPU.

That being said, right now there is a ton of change happening and I can't with clear conscious recommend the AM3+ solution when I feel it's going to be phased out for FM2+. So you might very well have to wait another 3 months for the waters to clear and see which direction you should go.
 
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getochkn

getochkn

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^^^ This. I only use the APU series for people who want a basic surfing machine. The graphics can easily handle HD youtube, facebook games, few older games or crossword games or whatever, and they rock for that. Cheap, quad core, 3-4ghz speed, built on graphics for like $100. The higher end ones even game ok on some not so demanding games and lower res like older 1280x1024 monitors.
 
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palladin9479

palladin9479

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Well I've built A10-5700/5800/6800 mini-ITX box's for people before. Pair them with good DDR3-2166 memory and they perform exceptionally well, for a sub $500 system in a SFF box (no room for dGPU). KIOSK and set-top style design's, SFF HTPC or even a pseudo "All In One" layout. The M350 case has a VESA mount design that attaches behind any monitor and with a wireless keyboard / mouse can make for a very interesting device.

http://www.mini-box.com/M350-universal-mini-itx-enclosure

But for desktop gaming .. yeah wrong tool for the job.
 
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k1114

k1114

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The image you posted is not showing it is better. It is showing a gpu bottleneck and all cpus are within standard deviation from each other. Metro is another gpu bottlenecked benchamrk. In either case your cpu just needs to be powerful enough to feed the gpu so either cpu will do as they are similar quad cores.

But here's the same game as you showed but showing the opposite of what you want.
Tomb-Raider-Ultimate-Outdoor-Frame-Rate.png
 
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Domenic Lang

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I just want to upgrade my processor to have high end gaming performance, and the a8-5500 just isnt cutting it. I cant even get a steady 30 fps while recording with fraps.

i know the fx8350 can handle this without any problem, the fx8350 performs substantially petter than an a8-5500 overall.

the fx8350 would definitely give me the greatest boost in overall performance, and would be the wisest choice for and cpu pricing up to 200$, and would even outperform several 300$ intel choices. so the fx8350 is definitely a the greatest deal for a gaming cpu on the market.

the problem is, am3+ boards seem to be about to die out, i havent heard any word about future generations of am3+ based cpus.

so although the fx8350 is the best deal at the moment and would completely suiting my needs for gaming, i would have to replace my current fm2 botherboard. and i wouldnt want to waste money on a motherboard that is literally just reaching the end of its life, and have to buy ANOTHER motherboard in only a few years when i want to upgrade again.

so my question is, will the fx8350 be optimal in gaming for a long enough time till it would be acceptable for me to upgrade my motherboard/cpu again (5+ years)?

[strike]SHORT QUESTION:[/strike]

With a OC HD7950, will the fx8350 be able to optimally play next-gen games at maximum quality for the next 5-10 years?
 
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CooLWoLF

CooLWoLF

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No.

No current PC hardware will will MAX out next-gen games for even 5 years. Probably 2 (maybe 3) years is a safe bet. However, it is completely reasonable to expect medium to high settings in most games, even at 5+ years.
 
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Domenic Lang

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Am i better off just sticking with my a8-5500 and waiting for the next-gen of processors then? I have been reading that the 8350 will be optimized for the next gen since the consoles cpus have identical builds
 
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CooLWoLF

CooLWoLF

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Don't get me wrong. The 8350 is a beast, and overclocks superbly. If you overclock it and upgrade your graphics card every few years, it should last you a good 5+ years at a very acceptable graphics quality. You would be very happy with a 8350-based setup.

However, am3+ may be at the end of its life; we will know more next month when AMD is supposed to reveal its plans. But when it comes to PC's, the tech evolves so fast and hardware changes so often, you could always end up playing the "waiting game" in hopes of the elusive "future proof" PC. It will not happen.
 
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